Atchison and Kattenbraker compete at indoor state

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Two Chester High School track athletes, Morgan Atchison and Jessica Kattenbraker, competed at the Illinois Top Times Indoor State Championships on Friday.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">According to Chester coach Jenny Stumpe, athletes must qualify to compete in the Top Times meet.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Times are maintained throughout the indoor season and those who qualify are invited to compete in the championships in Bloomington.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">This year, Atchison had to finish in the top 24 in the 60-meter hurdles and Kattenbraker had to finish in the top 24 in the 400-meter dash to quality to compete at the state meet.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Both Atchison and Kattenbraker competed in the Class 1A Division. Chester's 400-meter relay team (Atchison, Tayler Howie, Taylor Dunning and Kattenbraker) could have qualified to advance if it had finished the season in the top 12 relay teams.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"We missed being invited to advance by just one position," Stumpe said. "We finished 13th."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The Lady Jackets attended and competed in three indoor meets this season - Marion Girls Invitational (February 24), the Jersey Indoor Winter Thaw (March 1) and the Southern Illinois University Track and Field Invitational (March 17).</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Atchison won the 55-meter hurdles at Marion with a time of 9:58 and placed third at the Winter Thaw (9.60).</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">At SIU, she finished 8th with a time of 9.79 and her times qualified her for the indoor state meet.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Seeded fifth after a time of 9.58 in the preliminaries, Atchison finished third in the finals with a time of 9.29, earning herself a medal.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I couldn't be more proud of Morgan," Stumpe said. "She put in a lot of time practicing and working for her indoor performances."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">As for Kattenbraker, her indoor season started with third place in the 400-meter dash at Marion (1:07.38) and at the Winter Thaw (1:04.28).</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">At the indoor state meet, she finished 14th out of 24 athletes with a time of 1:03.53.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I am very proud of Jessica," Stumpe said. "She didn't play basketball this year so she could devote her time to indoor track.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"She spent a lot of time working and practicing during the winter and has had a taste of indoor state."</span>

&#160;